Trios
by lintycheese
Summary: Mr. Schue has the Glee Club working in threes this time- and of course, the Unholy Trinity gets picked from the draw. Rated T for future language.
1. Three's Company

"Seriously, Mr. Schue?" was Santana Lopez's reply to Will Schuester's proposal for this week's project. "There is absolutely no chance I'll agree to sing _another _Journey song. One was alright. Two, I could deal with. But after we covered the last song on album number fifteen, I think every single one of us can agree that it just isn't gonna happen this time."

Will sighed and looked around the room. Everyone seemed to be nodding in agreement.

"Alright, guys," he said at last, finally giving up on his dream of recording every Journey song ever created. "I guess I am getting a little out of hand. So here's what we'll do instead. We're going to do something a little different this week."

"You say that every week.." noted Finn Hudson.

Will pretended not to hear him. "You've all sung in large groups before," he said as he turned to face the whiteboard of the choir room. Brad the piano player listened intently as he stroked his beard. "You've done duets, too. Most of you have at least auditioned for a solo, if not actually performing one on stage," he began to write a word on the board in thick red marker. "But this is something none of us have tried here in Glee club."

Brittany Pierce smiled at the shiny writing. "Try-o," she pronounced. "Sounds like some kind of inspirational toothpaste."

Will sighed and Artie whispered the correct pronunciation to Brittany. "Oh," she nodded, now understanding the word.

"Trio!" Will proclaimed. "Okay, well, I guess I shouldn't say none of us have tried this. But it's hardly been done, so we're going to see how this works."

"But Mr. Schue," Rachel was shifting nervously in her seat. She brushed her skirt and sat straight up in her chair. "Trios don't allow anyone's voice to stand out- aside from my own, of course, mine will always have a lasting effect on the audience, but regardless-"

"Enough, Rachel," Will threw his head back in a groan.

"We all know you're the best." Mercedes Jones added. "So hush."

Rachel exhaled and slouched back down in her seat, eyes shifting nervously around the room.

"Now," Will started up again, clear about his desire to move forward with the project. "I will be choosing the trios at random. That's right, the oh-so-familiar pulled-out-of-the-hat trick." The room quickly shifted from silence to worried whispers and biting lips. He walked over to the piano where the hat was already set up for name selection.

"Okay, the first group will be…" Will shuffled his hand in the mix of names, not looking as he chose the first slip of paper. "Finn," he placed the paper on the table and pulled out two other names "with Mercedes and Brittany."

"Uh-… what?" Finn looked confusedly at Will. Tina and Mike exchanged a snicker and Quinn couldn't help but laugh.

"What an awful combination." she commented.

"Awkward is more like it," Kurt offered.

"I don't think it's awkward," Brittany noted. "They both have good voices, and I'm hot so we're going to win this."

Will shook his head. "This is not a competition," he explained. "I just want to see how well you all work in different situations than what you're used to. Anyway, next group," he shuffled the names some more. "Tina, Puck, and Quinn."

Tina glanced between Puck's nervous expression and Quinn's unsatisfied one.

"This should be interesting," was all Quinn said.

"Next," Will continued, "Kurt, Mike, and Rachel,"

Rachel seemed content with Kurt as one of her partners, but Mike made a disgusted face from the back of the room at the thought of having to deal with Rachel's bossiness for the next week.

"Alright, so, that's everyone-" Will said as he set down the hat on the piano again.

"Uh, hello?" Santana called out. Everyone turned and looked at her. "Do you really expect me to be my own trio? I mean, I'm used to doing solo performances- if you know what I'm saying- but this is just ridiculous."

Will contemplated the options. He could merge Santana with a group to make a quartet, have her sing alone, or…

"I know," he said at last. The tension in the room sliced in half. "I'll put everyone's names back in the hat," and he did so as he said it. "I'll pull out two more names, and those people will also do a trio with Santana." he finished.

"That's not fair." Kurt argued. "We shouldn't have to do double the work just because there's an extra person in Glee club. That's not our fault."

Will already had the answer to this. "Each person I pull will get to choose songs for two of the four trios to perform."

Everyone seemed to agree at this compromise so Will reached in for two more names. "Okay, looks like Brittany and Quinn will be doubling up to perform with Santana."

The entire room went silent as all eyes fell upon the three girls known as the Unholy Trinity. What were the odds that they would once again be performing together?

"I would really like to perform a cover of Rachel's song," Brittany informed Quinn and Santana. "_My Headband_."

"Brit, I don't think that would be the best for us right now," Santana rejected. Brittany frowned and nodded. Santana was always right.

Will looked at his watch. It was almost time to dismiss. "Well, Quinn, Brittany, you two can think about songs and discuss them tonight, and let us all know what's happening tomorrow. I'll give you guys a week and two days to get it all together, then we have to get ready for Regionals."

Quinn half-smiled at Will as if she already had this whole thing under her grasp; she was going to make this perfect.


	2. MIA

The next day went by pretty quickly for Quinn.

She knew that Mr. Schuester had requested that she and Brittany talked over what songs they were going to select for each group together, but she had other plans. She wanted to pick songs for everyone, including both of the groups she was in. She couldn't let Brittany pick out a song that would weaken her chances of impressing Santana. She was the whole reason Quinn was still in Glee club.

Quinn entered the choir room beaming and readier than ever to take on the challenge.

"Hey," Brittany walked up to her just as she entered. The only other people in there besides the two of them were Brad and Puck, who was tuning his guitar with a feverish pace even though he didn't even know what song he was expected to perform yet.

"So, we never really talked about song selections." Brittany bit her lip nervously.

Quinn nodded and watched Puck tune his guitar. He didn't seem to have noticed her entrance at all, let alone her general existence. He was the father of her child, and yet, it was as if they'd never met.

Brittany could tell that Quinn wasn't up for this conversation right now, but she knew it had to continue or Mr. Schuester would get mad.

"I was thinking, well Kurt and Rachel both really like show tunes, so we should give them one of those. 'Cause Mike could dance to one really easily. You know, because show tunes are kind of made for dancing along to sometimes." Brittany had a look of pure excitement on her face. "Lord Tubbington and I were talking about Cats last night. I mean like, not the furry ones, the dancing ones. And we thought that would be a good start."

Quinn thought through this. She didn't want to give them a song from Cats; she much preferred the more recent Broadway show, Next to Normal.

"Brittany, what about Next to Normal instead?" she gently proposed. She knew the only way to ease Brittany into changing her ideas were to either be kind about it, or to be born Santana Lopez.

Brittany looked at the ceiling and then down at her feet again. "Sometimes I feel like I've almost gotten that far, but not quite." she whispered back.

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm next to normal."

Quinn smirked. "No, I mean, the musical. Next to Normal. We could have them sing a song from that. That's what I was thinking, anyway," she went on. Brittany didn't seem to have a strong desire for them to sing a Cats song after all, and so it was decided that Rachel, Mike, and Kurt would perform 'Superboy and the Invisible Girl'. They would have to work out the balancing of solo time on their own.

"I was thinking that you, Mercedes, and Finn might do a song that Mercedes would like. One that involves a lot of powerful singing in it, because she's the most short tempered out of the three of you. You wouldn't mind letting her take the spotlight, would you?" Quinn tried to be as charming as possible.

Brittany shrugged. "Sure, I guess."

"I don't think Finn will have a problem with it either," Quinn grinned. Her secret plan was a go. "So, how about the song 'Impossible'? Do you know that song?"

Brittany returned Quinn's smile with one of her own. "I love that song!"

"Great." Quinn nodded. "And then for myself, Puck, and Tina? Something acoustic would be brilliant."

At this point Puck had stopped tuning his guitar and was listening in on the conversation, but Quinn and Brittany hadn't noticed. He hopped off his chair and walked over to them and Quinn jumped, startled at the sudden movement and sound from behind her.

"There's something I've been working on," Puck said quietly. He glanced at Quinn for a moment, but not longer. It ached him to see her after she had rejected him so many times before. "I don't know if you'll like it, but you should at least consider it." he pointed back at his guitar and turned to Brittany. "I play it pretty well for a newbie." he said proudly.

Quinn shifted her balance from her right leg to her left, trying to ease more distance between herself and Puck. "What song is it?" she asked. Admittedly, she hadn't thought much about her original group's performance at all. She was too busy thinking about Santana and what she'd want to hear.

"It's called 'If It Means A Lot To You'. I don't expect you to know it or anything, but there's a guy part and a girl part and it's pretty sad and intense… and I bet the Asian girl will like it. Or even if she doesn't, she can deal."

Quinn cocked her head and thought for a minute. That song sounded familiar, but she didn't really remember it. "Okay," she agreed at last, upon the decision that she didn't need to impress Santana with that particular song. It could be the Unholy Trinity song just as well.

Puck smiled for a split second, then looked to the floor, looked at Brittany, and finally turned to return to his seat.

Where was everybody? Surely they were supposed to be in the choir room by now.

"Now," Brittany clapped and hopped a bit in excitement. "What about our song? We could do anything. We rock."

Quinn was just about to answer when Mr. Schuester entered the room.

"Mr. Schue! Where-" was as far as Quinn got before he interrupted.

Mr. Schuester had a look of panic on his face and sweat dripping from his forehead. Even his tie was severely distorted. "Have you guys seen Artie anywhere?"

What was the problem?

"No, sorry," Puck called from behind them. Quinn and Brittany shook their heads no.

"I don't know if you guys noticed, but he's not in a trio, and that's because I'm supposed to be working on something with him individually- if I can find him, that is. How far could a kid in a wheel-" he stopped mid-word and took a deep breath, "never mind, just, if you guys see him, let me know, please. Glee is cancelled for today because everyone's out looking for Artie."

Brad slammed the piano keys and walked out of the room mumbling angrily, "No one ever tells me anything."


	3. A Secret Revealed

Santana knew she probably should have been looking for Artie like everyone else was, but she had other things to worry about. After all, Artie was the main reason why she wasn't with Brittany, and she couldn't care less about what could have happened to him.

So instead, Santana was in the school auditorium, sitting on the stage, just thinking. It wasn't like her to want to be alone; she usually preferred finding someone to insult or degrade, but today she just wanted to soak herself in lonely thoughts- the kind of thoughts that follow you everywhere you go, no matter how hard you try to let go of them. Her vision was impossible. Not just unlikely, not just something she'd have to act upon to make work. It was just completely out of the question. Brittany would never reciprocate the feelings Santana had for her enough for her to leave Artie.

Okay, so maybe she didn't actually _want _to be thinking these thoughts, but that's exactly what she was doing when she heard the back doors of the auditorium creak open and fall back to shut.

"Hello?" she called out to the air. She couldn't tell who was there because the lights, although dimly lit, were shining in her eyes.

For a minute, there was no response. Santana started to feel like an idiot. She was probably just really paranoid and worried about someone walking in on her sitting alone, borderline crying. But suddenly, a soothing voice returned the call.

"Santana," Quinn's light voice was softer than Santana's but traveled through the auditorium just as easily. "Well, I guess Artie isn't in here then, huh."

Santana shook her head as Quinn walked closer to the stage. "I have no idea where he is," she replied, trying to less depressed than she felt. She held her chin up higher and improved her posture to make it look like she was more alert.

Quinn laughed. "Neither does anyone else, apparently." she walked up the steps leading to the stage but Santana didn't turn to look at her. Quinn slowly crossed to the middle of the stage where Santana was and sat down next to her.

"Do we have a song yet?" Santana asked, deliberately trying to change the subject. Thinking about Artie made her think about Brittany, and thinking about Brittany made her sadness worse.

Quinn shrugged. "I didn't get the time to talk with Brittany about it."

Okay, so maybe that was a bad topic to discuss too. What was something she could bring up that had nothing to do with Brittany at all? Brittany was involved in nearly every aspect of her life in some way.

Luckily, Quinn had something to say.

"This is going to be the most awkward thing I've ever asked anyone, but I really feel like I have to."

Santana turned towards her, glad that she had finally said something to break the silence. Whatever it was couldn't be that bad. Right?

"Sure, what is it?" Santana smiled, relieved.

Quinn opened to mouth to say something, but quickly closed it again. "Are…" she began. "Are you-" she started again. She paused for a moment, reconsidering her choice of words. "Do you think that…" her voice trailed off. "Sorry," she smiled weakly "I don't know what I'm doing."

Santana raised her eyebrows. "Seriously, what is it?"

Quinn nervously played with her thumbs and didn't say anything for a moment. "Well, I was just wondering," she started again. "I just- well, you seem like-" she cut herself off again.

Santana was starting to catch on to what Quinn was implying and she started to panic. Had she really made it that obvious that she was gay? She used everything in her power to conceal it from the world. Even Quinn, one of her best friends. The only person that knew was Brittany, and she had intended on keeping it that way until she was out of high school. Or maybe even college. Or maybe even forever. She held her breath as Quinn's next words came.

"I'll just say it," Quinn said strongly. "I like you, Santana."

Wait. What?

"You…? Yeah, I know? We've only been friends for how many years now?" Santana recalled, puzzled. She didn't know what Quinn meant by 'like'.

Quinn shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean," she continued. "I… really like you."

Holy shit. That was unexpected.

"But I thought you had to ask me something," Santana regretted saying it the second it came out of her mouth.

"Yeah," Quinn started playing with her thumbs again. "The reason I even told you that is because I was wondering if you were…" her voice trailed off again.

If Santana was what? A lesbian? Deeply closeted? Madly in love with Brittany S. Pierce? Because all of those things would potentially be answered 'yes, absolutely'.

"Homophobic." Quinn finished at last.

"Homo_phobic?_" Santana repeated. She began to laugh a little. "No, Quinn, definitely not. In fact, I'm pretty-" she stopped herself, deciding not to reveal her secret. "accepting."

Quinn nodded. Her nervousness had left her face and hands, and she was leaning towards Santana now rather than giving Santana a lot of space.

"I just thought you should know… I wasn't expecting you to fall into my arms and say, 'Oh Quinn, I've loved you for years! I'm so glad you told me!' because that's just unrealistic. And I'm okay with that." Quinn followed up on her previous statements. She was worried that Santana wouldn't want to be friends with her or something.

"Nah, it's okay. Seriously, don't worry about it."

"Okay, good," Quinn took a deep breath. "So, we should probably look for Artie."

Santana shrugged. She really didn't feel up to it. Now, in addition to having to deal with her own feelings towards Brittany, she had to ignore the ones that Quinn had for her.

That's when she realized, what if Quinn felt the same way about her the way she felt about Brittany? What if Quinn woke up every morning and her first thought was 'Santana'? What if when she was daydreaming in math class, it was about the two of them on a date? Or when Quinn sang love songs in Glee, she thought of Santana the whole time she performed? Santana quickly started panicking again. She loved Quinn, but not in that kind of way, and she didn't want Quinn to get the wrong impression from Santana's acceptance of her.

"Actually," Santana stood up and brushed off her skirt. "I gotta go. See you tomorrow." she hastily fled the auditorium.

And so Quinn was left alone, in the middle of the stage, with nothing to think about but how Santana would never return her feelings. How alone she was. How much she'd give anything to be with her.


	4. More Complicated Than A Triangle

Well, that turned out horrendously.

It took Quinn exactly six minutes and thirty-eight seconds to get up off the stage and start looking for Artie again, but her heart was barely in it. She was too consumed by her thoughts to really pay attention to where she was going and why she was going there, which is how she ended up on the bleachers bordering the William McKinley football field even though the Cheerios were practicing and weren't exactly welcoming to Quinn.

She watched them. There were some things she missed about being a Cheerio. Constantly feeling like she was in charge of the world, or at least high school. Getting to wear that uniform every day. Not being slushied by the football team every time she transitioned from one class to the next. But what she certainly did not miss was Sue Sylvester, the coach. She was easily the most cruel and bitter person on the planet. She never gave the Cheerios any sort of encouragement; she'd just pick out the slightest error in their routines and bash them for it beyond the point of harassment. But she never seemed to get in trouble for it. Apparently she had some sort of blackmail thing going on against Principal Figgins. That's a pretty typical thing for her to do.

Puck came out from under the bleachers along with Kurt. Quinn noticed them before they noticed her, and a look of curiosity and confusion came across her face.

"Oh, Quinn," Kurt acknowledged her.

Quinn's expression didn't change in the slightest. "What were you…" she didn't complete her sentence.

Kurt waited for her to continue, but Puck quickly jumped in. "No, no, it's not what you think," he defended. "We were looking for Artie, and I came from one way, and Kurt came from the other way, and we decided to meet up under the bleachers, and-"

Quinn held her palm up to Puck. "TMI," she said. "I don't wanna know."

Kurt, now realizing what they were talking about, began to laugh. "Don't worry, you're definitely not my type… and you still wouldn't be if you played on my team." he explained.

"So anyway," Puck wanted to move on. "Any news?" he directed at Quinn.

"Yeah," she answered. Then she thought about it. "Well, actually, no."

Puck gave her an odd kind of look. "Okay…well, what are you sitting here for?" he looked out at the Cheerios practicing. One of them did a cartwheel as two others hand-sprung on either side of her. Sue insulted them through a megaphone in the distance even though she was about four feet away from them.

"Do you miss being a Cheerio?" Kurt asked.

Quinn shrugged. "No, I guess not," she replied. "Not having to worry about my reputation, or fighting the feeling of breaking down after hearing Coach Sylvester yell at me after practice- it's been great," she said. She looked to the ground and kicked her feet together. It was true, after all; she didn't mind being an ex-Cheerio too much. She just felt bad about Santana and Brittany quitting Cheerios as well. They made it seem like they didn't want to stay, but they were great actresses. Especially Brittany, because she barely knew what she was doing. But Santana had confided in Quinn soon after that she wished she never left the Cheerios.

Puck sat next to Quinn and put his arm around her shoulder. "But you feel guilty," he inferred.

Quinn was shocked- partially by his arm being around her shoulder, and partially because of his dead-on accuracy. Maybe he was smarter than he looked.

"Yeah."

"It's not your fault." Puck reasoned. He noticed Quinn's discomfort with his arm being around her and he drew it back. "You didn't make anyone do anything."

Oh, the irony of that statement. Quinn shot Puck a dirty look that reminded him of the night Quinn got pregnant. How he had manipulated her into thinking it was the right idea to have sex. How it was his fault.

He slouched away from Quinn, now starting to feel guilty himself. Kurt tapped his foot impatiently as he crossed his arms. "Okay, I get that you two are having a moment right now, but we still need to find Artie so that we can figure out what our trio songs are."

Quinn didn't even look at him when she responded. "Your group's doing a song from Next to Normal."

Kurt squealed and clapped his hands. "Wonderful! Finally, a fresh musical! Which song is it?"

"Superboy and the Invisible Girl." Puck was the one to answer him this time. Kurt gave him a questioning look, but Quinn confirmed it with a nod.

Kurt wasn't as euphoric as before, but he seemed happy enough with the song choice. "Great!" he exclaimed. "I should go find Rachel and- oh, shoot…" his voice died down. "If she thinks she's getting more center-stage showtime out of this than me, oh, is she in for a surprise! I'm sure not going to let…" his voice got quieter and quieter as he walked away towards the school, mumbling to himself.

Puck saw this moment as an opportunity. The Cheerios were huddled around Sue and not facing the bleachers that he and Quinn were sitting on, and it was quiet enough to be almost romantic… you know, for a football field after school. He leaned in to Quinn and kissed her before she could protest.

At first, Quinn jerked back, surprised and confused. "Wh- what are you doing?" she spoke quietly. Puck didn't respond. He instead just kissed her again, and this time, Quinn let him without trying to ease out of it. She started to kiss him back, thinking of Santana.

Wait. Santana.

She flung herself backwards and whacked her arm against the seat above her. "Ow!" she cried.

"Are you okay?" Puck leaned towards her, about to check her arm.

Quinn shifted backwards again. "Puck, no- no-just-this-I can't-I-I don't-"

A look of shame came upon Puck's face. "I get it," he said. "Sorry about your arm." he got up and walked towards the Cheerios. "Hey, babes!" he called out to them.

Quinn replayed the last thirty seconds of her life over and over again in her mind. Kurt mumbling. Cheerios go into huddle. Kiss. Kiss Puck? Fall back, ask what's going on, kiss him again, Santana. Santana, Santana, Santana.

Beth.


End file.
